Guidance for the prevention of antimicrobial resistance with general publics

Research, evaluation and practice guidance indicates that there is no ‘silver bullet’ for the prevention of AMR with general publics. The literature favours the integration of educational approaches into an overall prevention framework that can be sustained over time. Methods of prevention education are hybrids of prevention aims, media technologies, social contexts, practical constraints and resource limitations, often retrospectively justified in terms of their value for the production of outcomes regarding knowledge of AMR and reduced use of antimicrobials. Attributing outcomes to them is therefore difficult. Moreover, singly and in isolation, educational methods are unlikely to lead to substantial and sustained outcomes. Without an integrated approach, education may waste resources, lead to counterproductive fragmentation of messages and weakened trust in expert advice.